“Under the air tickets’ condition, we had to travel in one direction. We also had a choice of 18 airlines to select from.

“I took 60 rolls of film and came back with 2,000 photos.

“My favourite place was Greece where there were gorgeous scenes of white-washed houses in contrast with blue skies,” said the amateur photographer at his home in Taman Scotland, Penang.

His winning portfolio of 24 entries depicted idyllic images of Semporna in Sabah and Bali as well as exquisite shots of birds in Batu Kawan, Penang. TPOTY is an international photographic competition designed to find the very best in travel photography.

Pang is also an avid traveller who has covered 35 countries, including South Africa, India, China, Australia, Mauritius and nearly the whole of Europe.

The self-taught photographer is no stranger to winning some of the most prestigious international photography competitions.

He was voted Asian Photographer of the Year in 1993 by Photo Asia magazine and has the unprecedented distinction of being a five-time Overseas Chinese Photographer winner from 1995 to 1999.

The amazing part of his feats is that he has never used a digital camera before.

“I have invested RM40,000 in analogue cameras and related equipment. Thus, I don’t have any plans to switch to a digital one at all. Also, images taken by an analogue camera’s wide angle lens are better than those of digital ones,” claimed Pang.

He became interested in photography in 1983 when he bought his first professional camera, a Nikon F3, to take photos of his young children.

“A friend remarked that I had a high-end camera but my images were that of a pre-schooler. Stung by his criticism, I became resolute in proving him wrong and worked to improve my skills,” he added.